Welcome to our kitchen that truly is the heart of our home! One of life's greatest pleasures is enjoying good food with family and friends. Here you will find recipes, tips for frugal cooking, how-tos for food preservation especially canning and anything else food related. Tea is brewing and warm cookies are fresh from the oven. Please sit a spell and enjoy your stay.

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I am a wife, mother and grandma who enjoys the many aspects of homemaking. A variety of interests and hobbies combined with travel keep me active. They reflect the importance of family, friends, home and good food.

Sticky Post - Warning: 4ever Recap reusable canning lids. The reports are growing daily of these lids losing their seal during storage. Some have lost their entire season's worth of canning to these seal failures!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

I have to admit that we don't eat hot breakfasts on a regular basis. When the kids were younger I would make bacon or sausage and eggs or pancakes Sunday mornings and when we were camping. After we became empty nesters we eat hot breakfasts mainly when traveling or on weekends the kids are home. Since moving here I've decided to resume making a hot breakfast Sunday mornings. Our house is on a beautiful wooded lot on the water so we basically enjoy camping year round. A nice cup of fresh brewed coffee combined with a hearty breakfast while sitting on the dock is just a wonderfully relaxing way to great the day!

Smelling bacon and eggs cooking outdoors is still one of the things I really love about camping! Somehow my campstove is still missing in action from the move but if you consider we moved one of our kids twelve days before we moved and we still have a lot of things we are storing for the other kids, that is to be expected. The garage needs a huge major clean-out! I'm digressing so back to breakfast.

Some time ago I heard about cooking bacon in bulk in the oven with very good results. The problem I immediately saw was bacon splatters grease when cooking meaning the oven would have to be cleaned. At that time I had to clean the oven manually but then we bought the stove with a self cleaning oven. Still the prospect of running the self clean cycle after cooking bacon was not overly appealing. So I reasoned, why not cook the bacon on the grill? The mess would stay outside and the grease would burn off. I tried it using a sided baking sheet and now it is my preferred way of cooking bacon. This method does result in the bacon staying in straighter strips rather than curling.

Method: Heat the grill to medium high. Place the strips of bacon on a non-stick, sided baking sheet. Pepper if desired. Put the pan on the middle shelf of the grill (indirect heat). Allow the bacon to cook turning with tongs keeping the strips straight. When cooked place in a warming dish on the top rack to drain and remain warm until serving.

My husband's preferred eggs for breakfast are over easy or poached both with soft yolks. This is quite easy to do using the side burner of the grill but I have made them over a wood fire as well. I like using a non-stick fry pan for cooking eggs which is about the only time I use one. My husband wanted three eggs for breakfast so his went on first.

Our side burner runs on natural gas that has good temperature control but it is affected by wind. I grew up using natural gas but when we set up our first home after marrying I quickly got used to electric. Since then I've learned to cook on wood, propane, charcoal, naphtha gas and solar. Natural gas is dependable and cheaper than electricity here but a good portion of heat is lost so your cooking style needs to be adjusted.

Pictured are my husband's over easy eggs, bacon and he couldn't wait for his toast for the photo shoot. He likes eggs cooked this way for breakfast occasionally and for making fried egg sandwiches. The real trick is letting them cook on the one side, flip then count to three slowly. Remove from the heat and there you have perfect cooked yet runny yolks.

Yes that is my new counter top although we are only using it for photo shoots until the grout is sealed. That should be finished tomorrow so I will post an update later this week. Things will soon be back to normal :)

I like my eggs with a bit crispy whites and sunny side up. I seriously hate it when I order eggs sunny side up at a restaurant and they come out with slimy egg whites. My trick is I let the eggs cook until the whites are opaque then cover with lid and allow to cook until just the edges of the yolks are clouding. This results in perfect dipping eggs just the way I love them. A dash of sea salt and fresh ground pepper make these eggs a true taste sensation!

3
food lovers commented:

Kristie
said...

I love cooking breakfast outside on the grill. My mom always did that at picnics when I was a kid.

When inside, I like to cook the bacon in the oven sometimes too. I put the bacon on the wire rack in my roasting pan. That way all the grease drips down into the pan. That's why I like cooking it that way. The bacon doesn't cook sitting in all that grease.